This is the second installment in a series of unvarnished perspectives on the HCM and Talent Management software space.

In our work at Knowledge Infusion, were often asked by clients whether it would be valuable for them to attend user conferences for various HCM or Talent Management vendors in the space. Despite the fact that my Knowledge Infusion colleagues and I often present at these events, the way I usually respond is: Yes, it's possible to get valuable information from these user conferences - if you understand how these user conferences are run.

Having viewed these conferences from multiple perspectives - as an SME presenting for the vendor side; as an SME presenting from the perspective of a vendor partner; and as a customer attendee, I've developed an (albeit colorful) view of what drives these conferences. I tell my clients, if you understand the three tenets of user conferences, you will be able to navigate the user conference and extract as much value as possible. So at the risk of ruffling the feathers of my friends on the vendor and analyst side, here it goes:

Tenet 1: Fish In a Barrel - Understand that to vendors, these user conferences are mostly sales/marketing events. It enables them to garner a lot of press and analyst coverage, while at the same time assembling a large number of their customers in one place to feed them marketing messages and sales pitches. If you're an executive with the budget to purchase software, the vendors may offer to bring you out to their conference all expenses paid. This will give their sales folks the opportunity to corner you in a room and pitch their products. To the vendors, assembling this many customers and analysts in one place is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Tenet 2: Hey! Look! Free KoolAid!! - If you watch how analysts usually cover user conferences, it appears that vendors serve up huge vats of PR KoolAid and the analysts often drink the KoolAid freely and without question. The vendors use these events to introduce new "game changing" products and announce new partnerships - knowing that the announcements will receive broad analyst coverage. The conferences are usually accompanied by a flurry of press releases - creating a vendor/analyst echo chamber. Rarely will the analysts question whether the new products are "vapor ware," or question the wisdom of an announced partnership. These types of criticisms (if any) are usually reserved for analyst's personal blogs - often under the cloak of anonymity. It's interesting how software vendors and analyst firms sometimes seem to keep each other in business by creating a mutual admiration society.

Tenet 3: Fly Me Away - The (not-so-well kept) secret on the customer side of user conferences is that many of the attendees are simply trying to get a free trip to a desirable location on their employer's dime. That is why vendors tend to hold these conferences in locations like Las Vegas, New York, Orlando and San Diego (in Winter), etc.... The attendees aren't always looking for valuable information so much as they are looking to get out of the office for a few days and collect a suitcase full of marketing swag. It's important to sift through these freeloaders if you're looking to network with other customers and garner valuable information.

So, to summarize, how can you extract the most value from your user conference experience?

• Realize the user conference is a sales/marketing event. Take vendor demos, press releases, and pronouncements with a grain of salt.

• Don't drink the KoolAid. Look beyond the coverage of the analyst herd. Drill deep into products ability to meet your requirements before making a decision. This type of due diligence is not possible at a user conference.

• If you're looking to network with other customers to compare notes, share best practices, and learn from each other, filter out those fellow customers that are there mostly for the conference's proximity to Disneyland.